US court backs gay marriage in conservative Utah, state to appeal

A new court ruling that overturns a ban on gay marriage in Utah will be appealed, says the US state's governor.

Reuters: Jim Urquhart

A US court has ruled that conservative Utah may not ban gay couples from marrying, in a decision that capped a day of victories for same-sex nuptials.

It is the first time a regional appeals court has made such a decision in the year since the US Supreme Court ordered the federal government to extend benefits to legally married same-sex couples.

"A state may not deny the issuance of a marriage licence to two persons, or refuse to recognise their marriage, based solely upon the sex of the persons in the marriage union," the Denver-based 10th Circuit court said in its 2-1 ruling on Utah.

But the ruling is on hold ahead of likely legal challenges. In Utah the Mormon church wields big political and social influence.

Utah governor Gary Herbert, a Republican, said he was disappointed by the ruling and the state attorney-general's office said it would appeal to the US Supreme Court.

"All Utahns deserve clarity and finality ... and that will only come from the Supreme Court," Mr Herbert said in a statement.

Utah politicians who oppose gay marriage argued the ban was approved by voters and the impact of same-sex unions on families may not be fully known.

But the court said the state could not restrict the right to marry, or its recognition of marriage, "based on compliance with any set of parenting roles, or even parenting quality."

"We cannot embrace the contention that children raised by opposite-sex parents fare better than children raised by same-sex parents," it said, adding the right to marry should not be linked to issues surrounding procreation.

Freedom of choice to marry is the issue, says court

Responding to Utah's argument that same-sex marriage was too new to be rooted in tradition, the panel cited a 1967 Supreme Court ruling that invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

"The right at issue was the 'freedom of choice to marry,'" the appeals court said, not tradition.

Gay marriage supporters in Utah were planning a rally to celebrate in Salt Lake City.

Utah briefly became the 18th US state to allow gay marriage when a federal district judge ruled in December that the state ban on gay matrimony was unconstitutional.

That decision was put on hold by the US Supreme Court pending appeals but not before more than 1,300 gay and lesbian couples married. Their status remains in limbo.

The ruling came as a federal district judge in Indianapolis joined a growing chorus of jurists who have struck down state gay marriage bans in rulings that could substantially expand US gay marriage rights if upheld.